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Practical manual for VAT 2022.

General rule

The tax base is constituted by the total amount of the compensation of the transactions subject to it from the recipient or third parties.

When the taxpayer does not expressly and separately charge the tax on the invoice, it is understood that the consideration did not include these payments, except in the following cases:

  1. When the express tax impact is not mandatory.

  2. In the case of payments held in accordance with the law in the event of the transactions being resolved.

Included in the consideration:

  1. Any cash credit in favour of the person making the delivery or providing the service, derived from the main benefit or from the ancillary services, such as fees, transport and transport expenses, insurance or premiums for early benefits.

    Example:

    The lease of a premises will include the amount of the rent, the amounts similar to the income and any other amount than the lessor may require the lessee, such as community expenses, the amount of the Property Tax, the costs of heating, water, electricity, works, etc.

    Interest for deferred payment of the price will not be included when the following requirements are met:

    1. That correspond to a period after the delivery of the goods or the provision of the services.

    2. That they are remuneration for financial transactions for deferred payment or late payment of the price, exempt from the tax.

    3. That are recorded separately in the invoice issued by the taxpayer.

    4. That do not exceed the usual market rate.

    Example:

    In January, a 100,000 euro apartment is purchased and received on 1 October. The payments to be made are:

    • April: 30,000 And 1,000 euros of interest.
    • October: 40,000 And 2,000 euros of interest.
    • December: 30,000 And 3,000 euros of interest.

    The taxable base will be:

    • April: 31,000, Includes interest for being prior to accrual.

    • October: 70,000 (40,000 Paid in October plus the 30,000 paid in December), when the delivery is made, the VAT of the outstanding payments is accrued, and the accrued interest from this moment is not included in the taxable base.

  2. Grants directly linked to the price of the operations, i.e. established according to the number of units delivered or the volume of the services provided when determined before the operation is carried out.

    Both the DGT, in its consultation No. 0285-03, and the TCE in the judgment of 22 November 2002, have qualified the second of the requirements required in the previous paragraph, in the sense that "what must be established prior to the delivery of goods or services provided by subsidised services, this is not the amount of the subsidy as well as the mechanism for determining the transaction, so that the employer or professional carrying out the operation is in a position to determine its amount, but without this being necessarily established in monetary units at such a time . "

    Example:

    A passenger transport company receives two grants: One of 2 euros for each transported passenger and another of 20,000 euros, which is intended to cover the cost of the bus. The price of the trip is 10 euros plus VAT.

    The first subsidy is included in the taxable base when it is directly associated with the price of the ticket.

    • Price of the trip: 10
    • Subsidy associated with the trip: 2
    • Total taxable base: 12
    • VAT 10% x 12: 1.20
    • Price of the ticket: 10
    • VAT: 1.20
    • Total to be paid by the user: 11.20

    The second subsidy is not included in the taxable base because it does not meet the requirement to be established according to the volume of the services provided.

    The requirements that must be met for a grant to be considered directly linked to the price have been simplified based on the criteria set out by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the judgment of 27 March 2014 (Case C-151/13). This criterion is also recognised by the Central Economic Administrative Court, among others, in its resolution of 20 November 2014 (Resolution No 01360/2011) and by the Directorate General of Taxation in consultations V4149-15 and V2263-16.

    In the aforementioned judgment, the CJEU states that the tax base will be constituted by all that is received as a counterpart to the service provided, and only the existence of a direct link between the service provision and the counterparty obtained is required. In this regard, it clarifies that, in order to recognize this link, it is not necessary for the direct beneficiary of the provision to be the recipient of the service or for the consideration to be linked to the benefits of individualized services. The service will have to be actually provided as a payment counterpart, without requiring that this counterparty is received directly by the service recipient, but may be a third party, which satisfies the service.

    However, it is excluded from the consideration of grants linked to the price, and therefore, the taxable amount does not include the monetary contributions made by the Public Administration to finance:

    1. The management of public services or the promotion of culture in which there is no significant distortion of competition, regardless of how they are managed. These are financial contributions that the Public Administrations make to the operator of certain public services when there is no distortion of competition, usually because these activities are fully or partially financed by the Administration and are not provided in a free competition regime, such as municipal transport services or certain cultural activities financed by these contributions.

      These contributions will not limit the right to the deduction regulated in the last paragraph of article 93.Cinco of the VAT Act.

    2. Activities of general interest whose recipient is the whole of the company, as there is no identifiable recipient or users who pay any consideration. This would be the case for contributions made to finance research, development and innovation activities or public broadcasting services, under the conditions indicated, without prejudice to the consequences that may result from exercising the right to deduction.

  3. Taxes and charges of any kind that fall on the same taxed transactions, except VAT.

    This includes the Special Taxes required in relation to the goods that are subject to the transactions charged, except for the Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport.

  4. Receptions retained in accordance with the right by the person obliged to make the provision in the event of the operations being resolved.

  5. The amount of the containers and packaging, including those that can be returned, loaded to the recipients of the operation.

  6. The amount of the debts assumed by the recipient as a total or partial payment of the transactions.

    Not included in the tax base:

    1. Compensation, other than those referred to in the previous paragraph, which do not constitute compensation or compensation for the transactions subject to this clause.

    2. The discounts and discounts granted before or simultaneously at the time the transaction is carried out and based on it and justified by any means of evidence admitted in law.

      This provision will not be applicable when the price reductions constitute remuneration for other operations.

    3. Amounts paid on behalf of the customer under the customer's express mandate. The taxable person is obliged to justify the actual amount of such expenses and cannot deduct the tax that had charged them.

      It is essential that the invoice be in the name of the customer, the final recipient of the transaction.

      Requirements that must be met to exclude the supplements from the taxable base:

      1. It must be amounts paid in the name and on behalf of the customer. This will be accredited by the corresponding invoice issued by the customer.

      2. Payment of these sums must be made under an express, verbal or written mandate of the customer acting on behalf of the customer, that excludes the possibility of considering as a supplement the expenses incurred by the employer or professional without knowing the name of its possible customer.

      3. The amount received by the broker must coincide exactly with the amount of the expense incurred by the customer.

      4. The employer or professional mediator may not deduct the tax that the expenses paid in the name and on behalf of his/her customer have been debited.